In 1903, a fire in the Iroquois Theatre in Chicago killed 588
people; public outrage led to new theater safety codes across
America.

In 1915, in World War One, a German submarine torpedoed the
British P & O liner Persia off Crete. At least 330 people were
killed out of the 501 passengers and crew aboard.

In 1916, Grigory Rasputin, Siberian peasant, mystic, and
favourite of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra was shot,
was poisoned and eventually drowned at the house of Prince Feliks
Yusupov.

In 1922, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was
established through the confederation of Russia, Byelorussia,
Ukraine and the Transcaucasian Federation.

In 1933, Romanian Premier Ion Duca was assassinated by a
member of the Iron Guard.

In 1947, King Michael of Romania was forced to abdicate when
the Romanian People's Republic was proclaimed.

In 1968, Trygve Lie, Norwegian statesman and first
secretary-general of the United Nations (1946-52), died.

In 1979, U.S. composer Richard Rodgers died; he collaborated
with Oscar Hammerstein II in the hit musicals "Oklahoma!,"
"South Pacific," "The King and I" and "The Sound of
Music."

In 1985, President Zia-ul-Haq of Pakistan ended martial law,
in operation since he came to power in 1977.

In 1988, Yugoslav Prime Minister Branko Mikulic and his
government resigned in an economic policy showdown with
parliament.

In 1988, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and President-elect George
Bush were subpoenaed to testify at the trial of former White
House aide Oliver North on criminal charges stemming from the
Iran-Contra affair.

In 1988, Yury Churbanov, son-in-law of former Soviet leader
Leonid Brezhnev, was jailed for 12 years for bribery.

In 1992, Interim Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani was
elected head of state for two years in a ballot in which he was
the sole candidate.

In 1993, Israel and the Vatican signed an agreement on mutual
recognition, seeking to put behind them 2,000 years of often
bitter Jewish-Christian relations.

In 1993, Sudan, angered by the Archbishop of Canterbury's
visit to the rebel-held south, ordered the British ambassador to
leave the country.

In 1995, tens of thousands of cheering Palestinians greeted
PLO leader Yasser Arafat in Ramallah in the West Bank after
Israeli troops withdrew from the city.

In 1995, hundreds of people, many weeping with joy, lined the
streets of Gorazde in eastern Bosnia to welcome the first
passenger bus into the Muslim enclave for over three years.